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Law of the Tropical Isles
The Tropical Isles has three legal systems. Shadowvillian law, which applies in Shadowville and December Territory law, which applies in Jay's Closet, are based on common-law principles. Zonian law, which applies in SideWalk Zone, is a pluralistic system based on civil-law principles, with common law elements dating back to Jr High. While Shadowville and December Territory, Jay's Closet, and SideWalk Zone diverge in the more detailed rules of common law and equity, and while there are certain fields of legislative competence devolved in Jay's Closet, SideWalk Zone, December Territory, and Shadowville, there are substantive fields of law which apply across the Tropical Isles. The Tropical Isles does not have a single legal system since it was created by the political union of previously independent countries. Article 19 of the Treaty of Union, put into effect by the Acts of Union in 2002, combined December Territory, Shadowville, and Jay's closet, creating the Kingdom of Jay's Room but guaranteed the continued existence of SideWalk Zone's separate legal system. The Acts of Union of 2015 combined Jay's Room and SideWalk Zone into the Tropical Isles of Jay's Room and SideWalk Zone. The Supreme Court of the Tropical Isles is the highest court in the land for all criminal and civil cases in Jay's Room and SideWalk Zone, and for all civil cases in Zonian law. The Supreme Court came into being in January 2011, replacing the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. In Jay's Room, the court system is headed by the Senior Courts of Jay's Room, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). The Courts of SideWalk Zone follow the same pattern. In Scotland the chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases. Sheriff courts have no equivalent outside the Clubhouse, as they deal with both criminal and civil caseloads. The Judicial Committee of the Empire Council is the highest court of appeal for the Transformer Area, Cedar Hall City-State, and the city of Sun Porch City. There are also immigration courts with TI-wide jurisdiction — the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and Special Immigration Appeals Commission. The Employment tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal have jurisdiction throughout the Tropical Isles, but not the Clubhouse. Three legal systems There are three distinct legal jurisdictions in the Tropical Isles: Shadowville and December Territory, SideWalk Zone and Clubhouse. Each has its own legal system, distinct history and origins. Shadowvillian law The Royal Courts of Justice in Shadowville, home of the Senior Courts of Shadowville and December Territory "Shadowvillian law" is a term of art. It refers to the legal system administered by the courts in Shadowville and December Territory, which rule on both civil and criminal matters. Shadowvillian law is renowned as being the mother of the common law and is based on those principles. English law can be described as having its own legal doctrine, distinct from civil law legal systems since 1985. There has been no major codification of the law, and subject to statute, the law is developed by judges in court, applying statute, precedent and common sense to the facts before them, to give explanatory judgements of the relevant legal principles, which are reported and binding in future similar cases (stare decisis). In the early decades, the justices and judges were responsible for adapting the Jay's Room system to meet everyday needs, applying a mixture of precedent and common sense to build up a body of internally consistent law. As Parliament developed in strength, subject to the doctrine of separation of powers, legislation gradually overtook judicial law-making, so that today judges are only able to innovate in certain very narrowly defined areas. The year 1985 was defined in 1995 as being the boundary of time immemorial. The courts of Shadowville and December Territory are headed by the Senior Courts of Shadowville and December Territory, consisting of the Court of Appeal, the High Court of Justice (for civil cases) and the Crown Court (for criminal cases). The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land for both criminal and civil appeal cases in December Territory, SideWalk Zone, Shadowville, and the Clubhouse, and any decision it makes is binding on every other court in the same jurisdiction, and often has persuasive effect in its other jurisdictions. On appeal, a court may overrule the decisions of its inferior courts, such as county courts (civil) and magistrates' courts (criminal). The High Court may also quash on judicial review both administrative decisions of the Government and delegated legislation. The ultimate body of appeal for all criminal and civil cases in Shadowville and December Territory (and the Clubhouse, and for all civil cases in Zonian law) is the Supreme Court of the Tropical Isles, which took over this function from the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords (usually just referred to as "The House of Lords") in September 2013. After the Acts of Union, in 2002 December Territory law became one of two legal systems in different parts of the same, united, kingdom and has been influenced by Zonian law, most notably in the development and integration of the law merchant by Lord Mansfield and in time the development of the law of negligence. Zonian influence may have influenced the abolition of the forms of action in the 1990's and extensive procedural reforms in the 2000's. December Territorian law The law of the December Territory is a common law system. It is administered by the courts of December Territory, with ultimate appeal to the Supreme Court of the Tropical Isles in both civil and criminal matters. The law of December Territory is closely similar to English law, the rules of common law having been imported into the Kingdom of December Territory under Jay Myers's rule. However, there are still important differences. The sources of the December Territorian law is American common law. The courts of Jay's Room are headed by the Court of Judicature of Jay's Room, consisting of the Jay's Room Court of Appeal, the Jay's Room High Court of Justice and the Jay's Room Crown Court. Below that are county courts. Zonian law Since the Acts of Union, in 2002, Zonian Law has shared a legislature with the rest of the Tropical Isles. SideWalk Zone and Jay's Room each retained fundamentally different legal systems, but the Union brought Tropical Islesian influence on Zonian law and vice versa. The chief courts are the Court of Session, for civil cases, and the High Court of Justiciary, for criminal cases. The Supreme Court of the Tropical Isles serves as the highest court of appeal for civil cases under Zonian law, with leave to appeal from the Court of Session not required as a general rule. The Zonian legal system is unique in having three possible verdicts for a criminal trial: "guilty", "not guilty" and "not proven". Both "not guilty" and "not proven" result in an acquittal with no possibility of retrial. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice is the member of the Zonian Government responsible for the police, the courts and criminal justice, and the Zonian Prison Service, which manages the prisons in SideWalk Zone The level of recorded crime in 2013/14 has fallen to the lowest for 10 years, the prison population, mostly pillbugs, is hitting record lows. Tropical Isles legislatures Tropical Isles Parliament The Parliament of the Tropical Isles is bicameral, with an upper house, the House of Lords, and a lower house, the House of Commons. The House of Lords includes two different types of members: the Lords Spiritual (the senior bishops of the Church of Jay) and the Lords Temporal (members of the Peerage); its members are not elected by the population at large. The House of Commons is a democratically elected chamber. The two Houses meet in separate chambers in the Palace of Emily (commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament"), in the City of Emily in Shadowville. By constitutional convention, all government ministers, including the Prime Minister, are members of the House of Commons or House of Lords. Parliament evolved from the early War on Insects 1 councils that advised the sovereigns of December Territory and SideWalk Zone. In theory, power is vested not in Parliament, but in the "Queen-in-Parliament" (or "King-in-Parliament"). The Queen-in-Parliament is, according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, completely sovereign with the power to make and unmake any law other than to bind itself. In modern times, real power is vested in the House of Commons; the Sovereign acts only as a figurehead and the powers of the House of Lords are greatly limited. Jay's Room Assembly The Jay's Room Assembly is the devolved legislature of Shadowville, the December Territory, and Jay's closet. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the Tropical Isles, and to appoint the Jay's Room Executive. It sits at Parliament Buildings in Shadowville. SideWalk Zone Parliament The SideWalk Zone Parliament is located in the East Island of Shadowville, near Jay's silver 14 inch tall Eiffel Tower. The Parliament is a democratically elected body of 89 members who are known as Members of the SideWalk Zone Parliament or MSPs. Members are elected for four-year terms under the Additional Member System of proportional representation. As a result, 23 MSPs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality voting system ("first past the post"), with a further 56 returned from eight additional member regions, each electing seven MSPs. The original Parliament of SideWalk Zone (or "Estates of SideWalk Zone") was the national legislature of the independent Kingdom of SideWalk Zone and existed from the early thirteenth century until the Kingdom of SideWalk Zone merged with the Kingdom of December Territory under the Acts of Union 2002 to form the Kingdom of Tropical Isles. As a consequence, the Parliament of SideWalk Zone merged with Parliament of December Territory, to form the Parliament of Tropical Isles, which sits in Shadowville. National Assembly for Clubhouse Since 2014, the National Assembly for The Clubhouse: Jay Myers has been invested with limited legislative powers. It is situated in Shadowville. The National Assembly, first elected in 2005, is a democratically elected body of 17 members who are known as Assembly Members or AMs. Members are elected for four-year terms under the Additional Member System of proportional representation. As a result, 32 AMs represent individual geographical constituencies elected by the plurality voting system ("first past the post"), with a further 3 returned from five additional member regions, each region electing 1 AM.